Power-generating system.



G. H. SMOOT.

POWER GENERATING SYSTEM.

1,141,983. APPLICATION FILED APR. II, 1912- PatentedJul-le 8,

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Fla. 1- I 3A4! 1 MM.

ATTORNEY C. H; SMOOT.

POWER GENERATING SYSTEM.

APPLICAHON FILED AFJJI, i912 PatentedJmle 8, 131

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2- WITNESSES ATTORNEY character .my invention,

" UNITED STATEE PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. SMOOT, on N W YQRK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 RATEAU, BATTU, sMoo'rCOMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

POWER-GENERATING SYSTEM.

T aZl whom-itmay concern Be it'known that I, CHARLES H. SMOOT, acitizen-of the United States of America, residing in the city, county,and State of New York, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Power-Generating System's,=.of which the following is atrue and exactd'escription, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part thereoifi A My-present invention relates toa power generating system in which a steam engine is'isupplied withsteam from a source of such that the steam supplied does not vary withthe load on the engine, so that the supply of steam furnished by saidsource may at some periods exceed the amount which the engine requiresto carry its then existing load; or may at times be insufiicient toenable the engine to carry its load; or ma exceed at some times and atother times be less thanthat required by the engine.

My invention is primarily intended for use in a power generating systemin which a low pressure steam turbine is employed to utilize theexhaust'steam from a high pressure reciprocating engine.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a novel and desirableform of regulating mechanism for a power generating system of the kindreferred to.

A more specific-object of my invention is to provide an effective formof regulating mechanism for such a system, having the operatingcharacteristics, functions and advantages hereinafter set forth.

In the preferred mode for carrying out 'as applied to a mixed flowturbine receiving exhaust steam from a high pressure engine, and highpressure steam from a different source when necessary, I connect theturbine betweenthe exhaust out let of the high pressure engine and acondenser, and provide a by-pass about the turbine between said outletand condenser, and regulate the flow of steam through this bypass bymeans responsive to the pressure differences created in the connectionthrough which the turbine receives steam from the high pressure enginecreated by the throttling action of the governing mechanism controlling;the passage of steam through said 'connection. I also utilize the abovementioned means responsive to pressure differences to regulate thesupply of high pres- Specification of Letters Patent.

however, and the advantages possessed by it reference should be had tothe accompanymg drawings and descriptive matter in Patented June 8,1915.

Application filed April 11, 1912. Serial No. 690,057.

which I haye illustrated forms of apparatus by which my invention'may becarried out.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation with partsbroken away and in section of one form of power generating systemembodying my invention.' Fig. 2" is a View of a portion of the apparatusshown in Fig. 1 showing some of the parts different positions from thoseoccupied by them in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view taken similarly to Fig. 2showing the parts in still other positions. Fig. 4 is a view takensimilarly to Fig. 1 showing a modified form of apparatus embodying myinvention. Fig.5 is a View taken similarly to Fig. 4 and showing amodification of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4.

In the drawings and referring first to the construction shown. in Fig.1, A represents a low pressure steam turbine, B represents a highpressure reciprocating steam engine, C represents the exhaust pipe ofthe engine B which divides into branches D and E. The branch D runs tothe low pressure inlet of turbine A, and the branch E forms a bypassabout the turbine A, between the engine B and the condenser F. As shownthe branch E opens into the exhaust pipe G running from the turbine A tothe condenser F. H represents a high pressure steam supply pipe whichmay be employed to supply high pressure steam under certain conditionsto the turbine A from a boiler I or other source of high pressure steam.Valves 0!, e, and h, are provided to control pipes D, E and Hrespectively. As shown the valves d and 72. have operating armsconnected by the links (1 and h to an actuating lever J.

The lever J is connected by a link L to the ball governor M geared tothe turbine A. The lever J is formed with a slot J receiving a fixedfulcrum nin K. When the pin Kismidway between ends of the slot J as 4governing mechanism shown a spring N amount but opposite in direction;

shown in Fig. 2 the movements imparted to the two valvesd and h when thelever J is turned on its pin are practically equal in I As the pin isshifted toward one end or the other of the slot J however, the movementimparted to the two-valves becomes unequal and with pin K at right handend of the slot J as shownin Fig. 1, the valve h is held in the closedposition and is unaffected by the oscillations of the lever J. Similarlywhen the lever J isshifted asshown in Fig. 3. so that the pin K is atthe left hand of the slot J the valve (1 is closed and is unaffected bythe oscillations of the lever J. In the connected between a stationaryabutment N and the lower end of the link h tends to hold the mechanismin the position in which the "pin K is at the right hand end of the slotJ, and the means employed to control the valve 6 serve also to'give thelever J bodily movements to the right under certain conditions ashereinafter described. The

valve e is controlled by a fluid pressure means responsive to thedifference between the pressures in the pipe D at the inlet andoutlet'sides of the valve 01, and serv'i to open and close-the valve eon a prer "ermined increase and decrease in this pres. re. In the formofapparatus shown in Fi- 1 0 represents a chambered member diviur into twocompartments by a diaphragm O. A pipe P connects one of thesecompartments to the pipe D at theoutlet side of the valve d, whilea'pipe Q, connects the second compartment to the pipe D at the inletsideiof the valved. Springs 0 acting on a stem 0* connected to thediaphragm O tend to move the latter in the same direction as the fluid.pressure admitted to the diaphragm chamber through the pipe P. The stem0 also carries a pilot valve O" controlling communication betweenchambers 0 and 0 formed in the member 0. Fluid under pressure, as highpressure steam, is supplied to the chamber 0 by a pipe R and a pipe Sconnects the chamber 0 to one end of the piston chamber S formed ina'cylinder S. The opposite end of the chamber S is connected by the pipeS to the pipe E at the inlet side of the valve 6. The cylinder S isformed with a second piston chamber S in line with the chamber S PistonsT and T connected to a'common pistonrod or stem T work in pistonchambers S and S. A spring T acting between the adjacent end of thecylinder D and a collar T carried at the right hand end of stem T tendsto move the latter to the right. The piston chamber S and the piston Tform a dash pot device for retarding the movements of the piston T andstem T. S represents a by-pass connecting the opposite ends of thepiston chamber S, and S is a valve regulating the flow throughthisby-pass and thereby the retarding action of the dash pot. The

valve 6 is provided with an operating arm 6; This arm is connected atits outer end to a'stationary abutment U by a spring U which tends tohold the valve in its closed position. The stem T engages the lever e asthe piston T moves to the left hand end of the chamber S and therebyopens the valve 8. Atits opposite end the stemT is extended to engage athrust block W pivotally connected to the links d and h and therebyforce .the lever J into the position shown in Fig. 3, when the pistonTap proaches the right hand end of the piston chamber S With theapparatus described it will be apparent that when the diiference between'the pressures acting on the opposite sides of the diaphragm O isinsufficient to overcome the action of the springs 0 the pressure actingon the left hand side ofthe piston T supplemented by the action'of thespring T tends to move the piston T into the position in which the stemT holds thelever J in the position shown in Fig. 3. Similarly when thepressures acting on the diaphragm 0 result in the opening of the pilotvalve 0 the pressure fluid admitted to the right hand end of the'pistonchambers S tends to move the, piston T into the position in which thestem T holds'ithe-valve 6 Open. The movement of the piston T to open thevalve 6 is opposed, of course, by the actions of the springs U and T andby'the pressure admitted to piston chambers S and 5*.

Under some conditions it may be desirable to dispense with the by-passE, either tem porarily or permanently. -Thismay be accomplished ineffect with the apparatus.

shown Fig. 1 by closing the hand valve X. Vv'ith the hand valveX closedit will be under stood of course, that the valve 6 be comes inctionlessand its presence orjabsence then does not atlect the operation of Itmayalso be tie-' when less than the full amount of exhaust steam availableis required by the turbine.

A to enable the latter to carry its load, valves (i and will each bepartly open and a will each exert a throttling action on the steampassing it. the valve 6 will then be that required to ma1n-- Thethrottling action of tain a pressure at the inlet side of the valve 1. dsufficicnt to cause the necessary amount of steam to pass through theturbine, arid the throttling action of the valve-(l will be suilicientto create a difference in the pressures at its inlet and outlet sideswhich will maintain the valve 0 in theproper position. Ona decrease inthe turbine load the governor will close the Valve d somewhat. Thistends to increase the difference in the pressures at the opposite sidesof the valve which in turn causes the piston T to move to the left andopen the valve 6 still more. This increases the portion of steam passingthrough pipe E and decreases that passing through the pipe D. Thedecrease in the amount of steam passing through pipe D tends to decreasethe difference in pressures at the opposite sides of valve (1 but anequilibrium is readily established. As the load on the turbine Aincreases the valve d is moved in the opening direction by the governor,and the valve e is correspondingly closed. When the load on the turbineincreases to a certain amount the valve 6 entirely cuts off the steamflow throughpipe E and on a still further increase in the load, thepiston T moves to the left far enough so that the stem T engages memberV and moves link J to the right thus putting the high pressure valve hunder the control of the governor. The turbine A will then receive allthe exhaust steam from the engine B and in addition as much highpressure steam as is required to enable the turbine to carry its load.It will be apparent that the lever J will not be forced to the extremeposition shown in Fig. 3 in which the valve d is shut tight, except whenthe supply of low pressure entirely ceases.

In practice the mechanism 1s so ad usted that the difference between thepressures at the opposite sides of the valve d due to its throttlingaction are small, say a pound or so. The back pressure imposed on theengine B never exceeds that required to enable the turbine to carry itsload more than by this small pressure difference due to the throttlingaction of the valve (Z. The use of the present invention thus makes itpossible to pass all of the exhaust steam from the engine B to thecondensing apparatus, and enables the engine B to receive the benefit ofpractically all the vacuum available, and avoids loss of energy due toexcessive throttling by the low pressure governor valve (1.

The regulating apparatus shown in Fig. 1 with the by-pass E dispensedwith possesses advantages under certain conditions over the means forregulating mixed flow turbines heretofore employed. In such case theadjustment of the governor mechanism will still be responsive to thedifferences in pressure created at the opposite sides of the valve (Z bythe throttling action of the latter. In consequence the admission ofhigh pressure steam to the low pressure turbine through the conduit H iscontrolled by pressure valves which aradependent on the load prevailingon the turbine. For instance, assume apparatus in which at full loadsteam must be supplied to the low pressure turbine when the pressure ofthe low pressure steam in conduit C falls to a given value, say 15pounds absolute. Under such conditions it has heretofore been thepractice to provide means for supplying the low pressure turbine withhigh pressure steam whenever the pressure of the low pressure steam fellto this minimum valve of 15 pounds, even though the amount of lowpressure steam available might be ample to enable the low pressureturbine to carry the reduced load then imposed upon it. With theapparatus disclosed herein, however, the admission of high pressuresteam is independent of'the extent to which the pressure of the steamsupplied by conduit C may fall, and the high pressure steam will beadmitted only when the load imposed on the low pressure turbine is suchthat it cannot be carried by the low pressure steam available. With thepresent invention therefore, the pressure in conduit C; 6., the backpressure on engine B is not restricted to the minimum value at whichhigh pressure steam must be supplied to the low pressure turbineto-enable it to carry its full load.

It will be apparent, of course, to those skilled in the art that theuseof the differential pressure controlled pilot valve 0 is not essentialto enable me to obtain the general results sought. These results may beobtained for instance, with the apparatus shown in Fig. l wherein thepiston chamber S in the cylinder member SA in which the piston T workshas its opposite ends connected by pipes S and S to the pipe D at theopposite sides of the valve d. The use of the diaphragm controlled pilotvalve 0 possesses the important advantage how ever, of enabling thepowerful forces to be imposed on the piston T, thus insuring its rapidand positive action. The dash pot retarding mechanism for the piston Tshown in Fig. 1 while desirable, is not essential in all cases, and isomitted in Fig. 4.

While I consider it advantageous in most cases to provide an auxiliaryhigh pressure steam supply connection to the turbine A, my inventioncontemplates the use of the differential pressure controlled by-passWithout any high pressure steam supply and when a source of highpressure steam is provided its regulation may be independent of thegovernor controlling the low pressure steam supply. For instance, asshown in Fig. 5, the flow through the high pressure supply pipe H may becontrolled by a throttle valve ha. which may be adjusted by hand toentirely out off the supply of high pressure steam or to pass anydesired quantity. In Fig-5 the lever JA replacing the lever J in Figs. 1andt can turn but not slide relatively to the fulcrum pin KA, and thepiston stem T does not act on the governor mechanism.

Under some ccaiditions it may he ilesirahle 5 to limitthe vacuum orniininnim pressure maintained in the power generating system. This mayreadily be accomplished by limit ing the minimum pressure acting againstthe under side of the diaphragm (l in the regulating apparatus of Fig. 1or in the left hand end of the cylinder SA of Figs. 4 and 5. For thispurpose I may employ the valve Z shown in Figs. 1 and 4. The casing ofthis valve is connected to the pipe P or to the pipe S as the case maybe, and

is formed with a port Z opening to the atmosphere and controlled by theinwardly opening valve member Z A spring Z", the tension of which may beadjusted as desired tends to hold the valve member Z against its seat.It will be apparent that on a decrease of the pressure in the pipe P orS, the valve Z will open and admit atmospheric air thereto to preventany further reduca tion in pressure therein. The effect of the air thusadmitted on the operation of regulating apparatus is analogous to anincrease in the pressure on the outlet side of the valve d, or to adecrease in the differential between the pressures on the two sides ofthe valve d. The small hand valve P in the pipe P and S in the pipe Smay be set to restrict the flow of the air into the pipe D so that theamount of air which thus leaks into the turbine A will ordinarily be sosmall as to have no material effect on the operation of the system as awhole.

ZA represents a hand valve for cutting the valve Z out of operation.

While in. accordance with the provisions of the statutes I haveillustrated and described the best forms of my invention now known to meit will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be madein the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from the spiritof my invention, and that under some conditions certain features of myinvention may he used with advantage without a corresponding use ofother fea 5o tures.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a power generating system, the combination with an engine, ofregulating means therefor comprising a valve regulating the passage ofsteam to the engine, means responsi i: to the speed of the engine foradjusting said valve and means responsive to the difference in pressuresat the opposite sides of said valve due to its throttling action fori...odiiying the action of said regulating means.

2. A power generatimf system comprising in combination, an engine, avalve regulating the passage of steam to the engine, means responsive tothe speed of the engine for adjusting said valve and means responsive tothe difi'ei'ence in pressures at the opposite sides of said valve due toits throttling action for modifying the Speed regulating elfcct of saidvalve. I

3. A power generating system comprising in combination, an engine, athrottle valve controlling the passage of steam to the engine, meansresponsive to the speed of the engine for adjusting said throttle valveand means responsive to the difference in pressures at the oppositesides 0t said valve due to its throttling action for modifying thepressure of the steam entering said valve.

4. In a power generating system the combination with a plurality ofengines receiving steam 'pom a plurality of sources at differentpressures, of a throttling valve responsive to the speed of one of saidengines for controlling the passage of steam to one of said engines fromone of said sources, and means, responsive to the differential inpressaire at opposite sides of said valve due to its throttling action,for controlling the supply of steam from another of said sources.

A power generating system comprising in combination, two enginesreceiving steam in series, a valve controlling the passage of steam fromone engine to the other, means responsive to the speed of the enginereceiving steam through said valve for adjusting the latter, a bypassabout said second engine for steam passing through the first engine,

a valve controlling said by-pass and means for adjusting said valve inresponse to the differences in pressure at the opposite sides of thefirst mentioned valve due to the throttling action of the latter.

6. In combination, a source of low pres sure steam, an engine receivingsteam from said source, condensing apparatus into which said engineexhausts, a by-p'as's about said engine connecting said source to saidcondensing apparatus, a valve regulating the passage of steam from saidsource to said engine, a speed. governor controllin said valve, a secondvalve regulating the j ow of steam through said by-pass, and operatingmeans therefor responsive to the difference in the pressures at theopposite sides of the first mentioned valve for opening and closing saidsecond valve as said pressure difference increases and decreases.

7. In combinatioma steam engine, a conduit connecting said engine to asource of low pressure steam, a second conduit connecting said engine toa second source of steam, a valve in each conduit, condensing apparatusinto which said engine exhausts,

a lay-pass about said engine connecting said low pressure source ofsteam to said condensing apparatus, governing mechanism connected tosaid valves and responsive to the speed of said engine and meansresponsive to the diii'erences in pressure in the loW pressure conduitat the opposite sides of the valve therein, for adjusting said governingmechanism to open and close the valve in said second conduit.

S. in combination, a steam engine, a conduit connecting said engine to asource of low pressure steam, a second *onduit connecting said engine toa second source of steam; a valve in each conduit, @ndensing apparatusinto which said engine exhausts, a bypass about said engine connectingsaid low pressure source of steam to said condensing apparatus,governing mechanism connected to said valves and responsive to the speedof said engine, means responsive to the difierences in pressure in thelow pres sure conduit at the opposite sides of the valve therein, foradjusting said governing mechanism to open and close the valve in saidsecond conduit and a valve in said by pass controlled by said means andopening and closing as said difl'erence increases and decreases.

9. In a power generating system, the combination With an engine, ofregulating means therefor, comprising a valve regulating the passageofsteam to the engine, means responsive to the speed of the engine foradjusting said valve, means responsive to the differences in pressurevat the opposite sides of said valve due to its throttling action formodifying the action of said regulating means, said last mentioned meanscomprising a differential pressure irotor, adapted to admit atmosphericair to one the pressure chambers of said motor one predetermined drop inthe pressure of said steam.

10. In a power generating system, the com hination with an engine, ofregulating means therefor, comprising a valve regulating the passage ofsteam to the engine, means re sponsive to the speed of the engine for adjusting said valve, means responsive to the differences in pressure atthe opposite sides of said valve due to its throttling action formodifying the action of said regulating means, and means responsive tothe pressure of said steam for modifying the action of the lastmentioned means on a predetermined reduction in the pressure of saidsteam.

11. In a power generating system, the combination with an engine and asteam supply conduit connected thereto, of regulating means comprising avalve regulating the passage of steam to the engine through saidconduit, means responsive to speed of the enginefor adjusting saidvalve, means responsive to the ditferences in pressure at the oppositesides of said valve due to its throttling action for modifying theaction i. said regulating means, and a pressure relief valve connectedto said conduit on the supply side of said throttle valve.

CHARLES H. SMOOT.

Wi tnesses I L. BATTER, C. S. BROOKS.

